Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Samoa’s Film Control Board
recently banned the comedy “Sex Tape” from being publicly shown at the only
Samoan Movie Theater.

The Samoa
Observer reported:

According to
the Chief Censor, Lei’ataua Niuapu Lei’ataua, they are merely doing their job.

“The reason
why we’ve banned the public screening of the movie is because of the explicit
scenes of sex and sexual activities,” he said. “This will affect our culture
and traditions if we allow this movie to screen publicly. So we’ve decided to
ban it.”

I can understand that the Film Control
Board would like to keep the culture and traditions of Samoa safe, but that is
not their job.Their job is to classify
the movie and let the people decide whether or not they feel the movie is
appropriate for them to see.

If keeping the culture and
traditions of Samoa safe was their main objective then they would not have
allowed Hercules, Transformers, Fast and the Furious or The Other Woman to be
shown in Samoa.Ok so I watch a lot of
movies, but these were the most recent that I have watched at the Samoan movie
theater.Why would I say that all these
movies should not have been shown?

Hercules – Don’t hate me I love
The Rock and I would watch this movie again on DVD if given the chance because
there is a great number of six packs and I am all for appreciation of God’s
creations.But it goes against Samoan Culture
and tradition as it makes violence appear to be something good.That going around with a bow and arrow or a
sword and killing people is ok.It also
shows us that animal cruelty is acceptable.

Transformers – Ok I am also a fan
of Mark Wahlberg and mother of a boy who loves transformers so I know that I
will be watching this movie again.But
if we were to use the rule set down by the Film Control Board we should not
have been able to view this because the girl in the movie is disrespectful of
her father and lied to him about a boy!I am sorry but Samoan culture says that we should all be respectful to
our elders and definitely should not be dating or thinking of kissing a boy at
that age.

Fast and the Furious – I have
watched this more than a few times and will watch it again because hello
Tyrese, The Rock, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.But this movie goes against Samoan traditions as it teaches that
stealing and not listening to authorities such as the police are acceptable not
to mention the idealizing of driving dangerously over the speed limit.With that said I don’t understand why the Film
Control Board allowed it to be shown.

The Other Woman – Ok I kind of
see why this was allowed as adultery is a common thing now in Samoa so it kind
of upholds our traditions, but you would think that as God fearing people that
we would not have allowed it just because of the fact that they drink heavily
in this movie and the bible says that we should not drink heavily!

I like the intentions of the
Samoa Film Board in trying to keep Samoa safe from all things that are bad in
movies, but the reality is that you aren’t doing that consistently.If your sole reason was to safeguard our
traditions and culture then you really need to be consistent because I am sure
that I can name other movies that could be detrimental to our culture and
traditions.However, I still believe
that it is not the role of the Board to safeguard our culture or traditions but
rather to classify the movies so that I can tell if it is appropriate for me to
take my ten year old son to.I believe
that at 35 years of age I am old enough to determine whether or not a comedy
showing the pain and heartache of filming a sex tape and having it go public will
make me want to go out and make a sex tape and if I did choose to make a sex
tape I am an adult who has every right to do so as long as it is consensual and
within the laws of the land I live in.